Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Wed, Sept 16, the Minnesota Vikings made a couple of important roster moves as Jordan Mason was placed on injured reserve with a torn thumb ligament that he had surgery on. Kyler Murray was also continuing to progress in the concussion protocol after suffering a hard hit in the first quarter of a 39-22 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sept 13. Murray took some light reps and he also logged a limited practice on Thur, Sept 16. His status for the Week 2 matchup against the Chicago Bears is unknown, but if Murray is unable to clear the concussion protocol, Carson Wentz would start in the game at Soldier Field. Wentz threw three touchdown passes in the comeback win over Green Bay and he started five games last season for Minnesota, winning two of those starts.

As for Mason’s status, he will miss the next four games before being reactivated off IR and the soonest he can return would be in a Week 7 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts after the Vikings’ Week 6 bye. To provide more depth in the running back room, Nolan Teasley made a couple of moves in elevating DeeJay Dallas to the active roster and he also signed running back Jerome Ford to the practice squad. Ford has experience in competing for the Cleveland Browns in the past four seasons and running for 1,463 yards and seven career rushing touchdowns along with 107 career receptions and 647 receiving yards along with five receiving touchdowns. Whether Ford is elevated to the active roster to serve as a backup behind Aaron Jones is unknown, but Dallas will play a role along with Demond Claiborne, who did not appear in the Week 1 victory. Claiborne could have a kick returner role, so him and Dallas will have backup roles behind Jones, whose workload will increase with Mason out.

With Wentz expected to be named the starter for Week 2, the Vikings could have J.J McCarthy as the backup QB and Max Brosmer as the emergency third QB. Wentz has thrown nine touchdowns in his time playing for his childhood team along with 1,349 passing yards. Looking to add to his career stats, Wentz could compete in an NFC North division game for the second time after his incredible performance against the Packers. If Wentz does well enough, he could potentially earn the job as a starting QB over Murray, whose injury history has held him back for a lot of seasons in his career thus far. The news on who the starting QB for Minnesota will be in Week 2 could come soon and an appropriate update will come when that news comes out.